


There Is A Place, I'll Meet You There

by no_loose_wire_jokes



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: At Least for a Bit (dun dun duuuun), Ben Solo Lives, F/M, Post Canon Fix-It of Sorts But It's Own Story, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Rey Saved His Ass From The World Between Worlds and This Is The Sequel, There's A Small Amount of Angst at the Beginning, but then it's happy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:34:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22807921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/no_loose_wire_jokes/pseuds/no_loose_wire_jokes
Summary: “And it scares me, Rey. It terrifies me.”He rounds on her, the emotion in his eyes unmistakable. And Rey knows it’s reflected within her own.“But there’s nothing, nothing, I want more than for you to choose to spend the rest of your life with me.”[The continuation of Out Beyond Right, Out Beyond Wrong. Or as I like to call it, "Deela's Star Wars Episode X: Giving the Skywalkers The Happy Ending They Deserve"]
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 7
Kudos: 30





	There Is A Place, I'll Meet You There

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!
> 
> So, this is sketched out to be my first, long, multi-chapter fic and I'm admittedly very nervous about actually posting it here. I'm still very new at the whole writing thing but I'm trying my best! If you have any constructive criticism it would be very much appreciated. :) 
> 
> THIS IS TECHNICALLY A SEQUEL FIC SO FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE, I SUGGEST THAT YOU READ THAT FIRST. (I mean, you don't have to but this may be confusing if you don't, lol. It's called "Out Beyond Right, Out Beyond Wrong" and it's posted on my account.)
> 
> Other than that, I truly hope you all enjoy this. It's been very fun to write thus far, so I hope it's fun to read as well!
> 
> Thank you for being here,  
> Love, Deela

_“Yeah, and you’re not gonna like who it’s from.”_

…

The command center is alive with activity as Finn and Poe march through the giant metal doors. Commanders, Lieutenants, and Officers who had been celebrating the victory of the New Republic only mere hours ago now at the ready as they monitor they’re stations. Perhaps it’s overkill, having this many people on high alert, but after what turmoil the galaxy has experienced, Poe doesn’t think it’s completely unwarranted.

As the two Generals make their way to the large holotable in the middle of the room, Poe can’t help but glance over at Finn in concern. His expression is mirrored on the other man’s face and it only adds to his unease. 

“What can you tell us, Lieutenant Connix?” He asks, gripping the edge of the table tightly. 

Connix makes a face as her eyes scan over the screen of her station. “Not much, General. The signal originated from Horuz, a small planet located in the Outer Rim. According to our databank, it was a former Imperial stronghold but it’s been abandoned ever since the Battle of Jakku.” 

“That’s probably why he’s there,” Finn observes, “Hux probably knew about the base and was probably able to obtain enough energy from the auxiliary generators that the Empire left behind to send a signal for help.” 

“Did the signal come over an Imperial frequency?” Poe asks.

“No, Sir, we were able to recognize it as First Order, but there is an encrypted message that was broadcasted along with the signal that we’ve been having difficulty cracking into,” Kaydel responds.

The slimy son of a bitch probably anticipated this, he knew they would find his message, and like the coward he is, he hid it away behind a code they’d probably never decipher.

Rey enters the command center with Rose at her side, and as the door closes behind them, Poe can’t help but smirk at the discouraged face of Kylo Ren—or as Rey has been trying to engrain in their heads, _Ben Solo_ —behind the durasteel entrance. 

Ever since he showed up here, he’s been attached to Rey’s hip, which is exactly what Poe had requested—to keep him in check, to keep him from killing anyone or destroying anything as she’s the only one that could ever stop him if he did. But Poe’s favorite part of having him here is having all his chores done for free. Laundry? Taken care of. Cooking? Taken care of. Cleaning? Taken care of. And all because he had brilliantly decided that part of Ben Solo’s punishment would be doing all of these things on a regular basis. And not just for him, _no no_ , but for the entire base. 

Pretty genius if you ask Poe.

Oh right, he’s also not allowed in the command center, hence why he’s standing outside the door. The absolute _last_ _thing_ they need around here is the former Supreme Leader of the galaxy at the hem of the Resistance. That’s just a big no. 

“Have we discovered who that signal was for? Surely he didn’t want us intercepting it,” Rose asks, walking to stand next to Kaydel, her eyes surveying the screen in front of her. 

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Rey comments quietly, almost as if in a world of her own. 

“What could he want?” Rose continues questioning.

“I don’t know,” Kaydel says, “He literally could just be in need of emergency assistance.”

“That doesn’t seem right,” Rose responds, “It just seems so strange that a man so individually driven for power would call out for help. It seems uncharacteristic of him.”

“I don’t trust him one bit,” Poe says, shaking his head, “Regardless of how he helped us over Kijimi-” 

“Ohhh,” Rey says, muttering to herself, “That makes sense now.” Her eyes are still glued to Kaydel’s station as she moves to stand by the blonde woman’s side. “Lieutenant, did you try entering the clearance codes that Ben gave us?”

Kaydel lifts a single brow. “No, but I can try it now.” Her fingers dance across her keyboard and with a final tap, the message that was locked away in the encryption appears on the screen. It’s a very long, random jumble of numbers but Rey seems pleased with this discovery and nods in approval.

Poe scoffs but nods alongside her. At least _Ben_ is doing some good around here other than scrubbing toilets. 

“This frequency is only transmitted to First Order superior officers, high command,” Rey supplies.

“So he was looking for survivors then?” Finn asks.

“Potentially,” Rey says, but after a pause, her eyebrows raise in surprise, “but I think this was a targeted message with an intended recipient.”

“What?” Poe asks. 

“Look here,” she says, pointing at the screen, “the numbers at the end of the sequence actually represent sender and recipient, and in this case the last four digits are o’three o’one. Three to one, General to Supreme Leader.''

Finn and Poe share a suspicious look before Finn slowly says, “He was trying to send a signal to Ren?”

“From the looks of it, yes.” 

“Rey, that doesn’t make any sense. Hux _hates_ Ren. They do _not_ get along.”

Rey snorts faintly. “Oh, trust me, I know.”

Poe and Finn share perplexed glances. 

“Rey,” Rose interjects, “excuse me for asking, but how the hell do you know how to decipher this sequence? It’s very complex and frankly, _very_ First Order.”

Rey’s eyes widen slightly, almost like a toddler that’s been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Poe almost instantaneously feels the need to goad her on. 

“Yeah, Rey. How _do_ you know that?” He asks cheekily. 

Her eyes flick quickly to her side and back again before she moves to play with the flowing bands of her tunic. “It’s—uh, well, it’s obvious, really. Just simple coding and-”

“ _Rey,_ ” Finn gently implores, “How do you know?”

Poe can almost see the gears turning in her head, the steam coming out her ears as she thinks. He can see a moment where she looks almost as if she’s going to dart from the command center. But then he sees her should slump in defeat and she sighs dejectedly and he knows that they’ve got her in a corner. 

Much to the confusion of everyone else in the room, she says, “Sorry Ben,” and reaches out with her right hand, seemingly grabbing nothing until _Ben-fucking-Solo_ appears out of midair, his wrist in her grasp.

Everyone gasps and steps back in utter shock. 

Ben just kind of, _stands there_ , looking almost as confused as Poe feels and his head only hurts more when Ben turns to Rey and whispers, “Hey, that actually worked!”

Rey does a strange whisper-yell thing, “ _I know!_ ” 

Silence stretches across the room as everyone gapes at the two Force users. Poe swears he could hear a pin drop.

“I’m sorry,” he says in the calmest voice he can muster considering the fact that a _human being_ just materialized in front of him, “But can someone please explain what the _fuck_ just happened?”

“It’s uh, you know,” Rey looks down at where her hand is still wrapped around Ben’s wrist and, after a second, quickly drops it as if it was burning her skin. She runs her hands over the front of her tunic before wringing them in front of her like she’s _nervous_ or something. A blush ( _a blush?!_ ) spreads across her cheeks, as she continues, “The bond lets us, uh, _move_ things through the Force.”

“The bond… Let’s you, _move_ things,” Poe repeats slowly. 

“And people too apparently,” Ben states. 

Poe swears he can _hear_ the confusion running through the air. 

The bewildered silence continues for another second before Rey growls in anger, “Well, let’s get on with it then!” 

That, at least, snaps Rose of her stupor. “So, do we trust it?” 

“Trust what?” Poe responds dazedly. He’s having a little _difficulty_ getting over the fact that the space in front of him was literally empty twenty seconds ago, and now there’s a giant, living, breathing man, taking up said space. 

Rose growls too. “The signal, Poe. Focus.” 

“Right, the signal,” Poe says, “What do you guys think?”

“I think it’s a trap,” Ben supplies. 

Poe rolls his eyes, “Great, thank you, captain obvious. Now tell us something we don’t know,” he drones sarcastically.

“Hux was reported dead before I left for Kef Bir,” Ben supplies, “executed on accounts of treason.” 

“ _That_ I did not know.” 

“So, it’s not unlikely that he would be reaching out to us on purpose then, maybe to join our ranks,” Rose says.

Ben scoffs. “Perhaps, but I doubt it. He’s probably stranded and just looking for a safe way to get off-planet. There’s hundreds of gang syndicates based on Horuz who’d gain a fortune from serving his head on a chromium platter. Being arrested by the New Republic would probably save his life.”

“That just makes me want to leave him there more,” Finn mutters. 

“It would certainly be nice to let him rot on a stinkhole like Horuz but we can’t,” Ben says, crossing his arms.

“He’s right,” Rey agrees, ( _surprise, surprise),_ “He could find a way to escape on his own if we leave him, and we definitely don’t need him running free throughout the galaxy, Gods only know what he would get up to.” 

“So it’s settled then,” Poe claps his hands together, a smile blooming across his face as everyone turns to look at him, “Let’s go round up General Hugs.”

* * *

They call it a rescue team simply because they’re responding to a distress signal but Rey doesn’t think that’s a very appropriate name for it. They’re more like an extraction team or, better yet, a _we’re going to arrest a First Order General and then throw him into a cell where we’ll leave him to rot and die just like he deserves_ team. 

Perhaps that’s a little harsh but the only reason Rey was dragged along on this damned trip was because Ben wanted to go. The logic behind his reasoning was that he knows Hux and that understanding his mindset would aid in the extraction process. But Rey knew that the only reason he wanted to be there was to see the look on Hux’s face when they point four blasters right at his nose. 

But as she sits in her favorite meditative pose, she thinks that she really can’t blame him. She’s excited to see it too.

The _Millennium Falcon_ speeds through hyperspace as she meditates in the cargo hold. Her lightsaber, only a few weeks old now, hovers in the air above her, her mind's eye suspending it in the vastness of Force as she focuses on that single point of kyber, using it to expand her awareness as far as she can. 

There’s an obvious difference in the flow of the Force now, a calmness that wasn’t there a week ago. Ever since she brought Ben back, the Force has just seemed more… _balanced._ Almost as if it’s happy that he’s back, which only validates her reasoning as to why he never should have left in the first place. And now as she feels his approach, she can’t help but smile.

She hears the door hiss open and closed behind her but it isn’t until she smells food that she says anything. “Did you bring me dinner?” She asks, turning to look up at him.

“Huh?” He jumps, as if he wasn’t expecting her to say anything, “um, yes— I made it.”

“Are you sure it’s safe to eat?” She jokes as she moves to stand up.

Ben chuffs out a laugh and gently hands her the platter, “Rose was there while I was making it, so I trust it.” 

“Mm,” Rey hums around her first mouthful, “Rose loves cooking, she’s really good at it too.” 

“So I’ve learned,” Ben comments, “She’s been teaching me everything she knows when I work kitchen duty back at the base.” 

Rey smiles, “Well obviously it’s working. This is amazing, Ben.” 

The compliment causes a red flush to develop over his cheeks and she delights in the pink tinge of his ears as they poke out from underneath his hair.

“I think she has a secret soft spot for you.” Rey comments to relieve his suffering. 

“Rose? No,” he says, running a hand through his hair, “She puts up with me because they tell her to. I think that if she was given the chance, she’d definitely taser me until I was cooked as thoroughly as the nuna meat you’re eating.” 

Rey snorts, “She does love that taser.”

He chuckles again as he runs another hand through his hair—a nervous tick, she’s discovered. As she chews on the food he brought her, Ben’s hands twist together in front of him and she can practically feel the nervous energy radiating off him. 

She gently pokes his mind with her own, extending the tendrils of their bond until his eyes finally snap up to meet hers. She tilts her head in question, letting her body convey her concern as she continues to eat. She’s never wasted a morsel of warm food and she doesn’t plan on starting any time soon.

“Rey, I—” again, with the hand in the hair, “I’m—” his chin twitches and that’s when Rey decides to set her plate down on the table beside her, giving him her full, undivided attention.

When she looks him in the eye, a shuddering sigh wracks through his body. “I don’t belong here, Rey.”

She freezes.

“Maybe,” Ben continues, “If my mother was still here, there’d be a place for me, but she’s not and I don’t think— I don’t think I should stay.”

Rey’s stomach drops through the floor. The nuna meat she just ate threatens to come back up.

“I think I should accept the offer of exile provided by the New Republic.” He looks down at his hands. “It would be nice, I think. Just finally being irrelevant.”

Rey’s lips press together as she tries to collect herself. She just brought him back and now he wants to _leave_? It’s unsurprising though, considering that everyone else in her life has left too. Her parents, Han, Luke, Leia. They all just died and abandoned her like the garbage she is, so why is this any different?

But things have been going so well. The week since their return from Ahch-To has been one of the happiest of her life and now he just wants it to end. To just get up and walk away from it all. From what they’ve built, from what his parents spent their life building, from what they’ve all fought so hard to achieve. It’s stupid. Completely ridiculous.

“Is that so?” She asks bluntly, hoping to convey a stern tone through the quiver in her voice.

His eyes dart up to meet hers again. He looks almost small which is ridiculous considering the sheer size of him. 

“So you’re just gonna, what? Live in a shack on Endor and eat Ewoks?” She asks, her hip cocked with her hands resting on her waist.

“What? Ew, no, I just—” he stutters.

“Do you even hear yourself?” Rey crosses her arms, “Do you realize how absurd—”

“ _Yes!_ Okay?” He snaps. “I do!” 

Rey unconsciously takes a half-step back at his sudden outburst.

At seeing the look on her face, his sharp anger instantly dissipates and shame flows over his features. He sighs and looks down again, “I’ve been given an opportunity I don’t deserve, Rey. By you, by the Resistance, the Republic. I should be dead, or at the very least imprisoned, not making meals and sweeping floors. I just want to disappear and pay for my crimes in a place where I can’t hurt anyone.” He takes a shuddering breath and quietly repeats, “I just want to disappear.” 

Rey feels something within her crack. The sharp memory of him dissipating in her arms flashes through her mind and she can suddenly feel tears running down her face. But they aren’t just for her. They’re also for this exhausted, broken-down man in front of her. A man who, for thirty years, has been told he’s not good enough, that he’ll never be good enough. A man whose family legacy was dropped on his shoulders without one ounce of support. A man whose sins have piled so high he feels he can never dig himself out from underneath them. And now, as she looks over his grief stricken face, she finds she only wants to hold him and chase his demons away.

Her arms wrap around him so unexpectedly quick that he grunts in surprise. She hugs him tighter until his arms tentatively come around her shoulders in a friendly hug.

“Wherever you go,” Rey says into his shirt, “Just know that I’m going with you.”

He squawks, “But Rey, you have a home here, your friends would-”

_“I said, I’m going with you,”_ she says, her voice not leaving room for discussion. 

There’s a pause as Ben seems to consider this, his chin comes up to rest on top of her head as a deep sigh leaves his body. “Then it looks like I’m not going anywhere.” 

Rey feels an uneasy relief set into her bones. He’s not leaving, at least not yet, and for now, she’ll take it.

“Thank you,” she whispers. 

They stay tucked together like that until they’re paged to the cockpit. 

* * *

Horuz looks like your typical, run of the mill, Outer Rim planet. It’s brown-black tinge gives the surface a grimy appearance that’s quite befitting a planet of it’s stature. Not to mention that, upon landing, the crew discovers that the atmosphere smells exactly as it looks—like volcanic ash and mudhorn shit. 

As Rey steps out of the Falcon, her first impulse is to run back inside and disinfect her nostrils. The stench of this planet would make Unkar Plutts’s junkyard smell like a field of millaflowers, and that’s not even an exaggeration. Rey turns to watch the reactions of the rest of the crew as they descend the ramp. Rose’s immediately pinches the bridge of her nose and Rey can already see the beginning of _tears_ welling in her eyes. Poe just stops, freezes mid-descent, groans, and fakes a gagging sound as he waves his hand in front of his face. And then there’s Ben. His face is hilarious—his nose is scrunched and his eyebrows are drawn comedically inwards, twisting his face to look exactly like what Rey feels, pure _disgust_. Rey can’t help but laugh at the irony of finding a pristine douchebag like Hux here on a planet that he probably would have blown up had he seen it three weeks ago. 

“Oh, I bet that Hux just _loves_ it here,” Ben drones, the sarcasm dripping from his voice is enough to make even Poe laugh. 

“He’s probably hiding in a cave somewhere rocking back and forth on the ground like a madman,” Poe jokes.

“Hux? Sitting on the ground? Bold of you to assume he’d ever let his own ass touch the dirt of this shithole,” Ben quips right back, feigning pomposity through the laughter in his voice.

Poe laughs before seemingly remembering who he’s joking with and stifling it with a cough. “This place really is terrible, though,” Poe says seriously, “I’d like to find him and get out of here ASAP.”

“Me too,” Rose squeaks, her hand still over her face. 

“Ben,” Rey says, “You’ve spent the most time around him, can you identify his signature from here?” 

A doubtful look passes over Ben’s face as he scans the horizon. “I don’t know if I can. This is a big planet.”

Rey feels herself soften. “You can do it,” she says with a gentle, reassuring confidence, “I know you can.” 

Ben looks right at her with an expression that she can’t quite unravel and she fights the urge to hug him again. She can feel his unease pressing under the surface of his thoughts, like he’s unconsciously trying to block it out and it bugs her in a way that she can’t quite explain. It’s like he’s hiding from her, curling in on himself like he used to before. It’s another second before he turns, taking a deep, shuddering breath and hesitantly reaching out. His eyebrows crease together in concentration as he reaches further and further into the Force, searching for a needle in a haystack. Literally. A cold, prickly, needle of a person. 

Ben begins to shake his head but she can feel him pushing further still. On an act of instinct, Rey grabs his hand and closes her eyes as she takes a centering breath. Through the bond, she sends him energy, a bright, burning power that he can use in his search. She feels his momentary lapse in focus when he realizes what’s happening but he quickly adapts, refocusing his efforts tenfold. She feels his hand grip tighter around hers and only a second later, the contact in her mind snaps.

“There’s a civilization not far from here,” Ben states, “and if I’m not mistaken, Hux isn’t much further north than the settlement.”

Rey’s eyes pop open and she quickly releases Ben’s hand, just like he had the connection of their minds. It was strangely abrupt, the way he cut off the link of their bond. Not to say that either of them hadn’t done it before, but now it just seemed different. Like he was closing himself off from her for something other than, well, the supposed hostility of supposed enemies. Like he was _hiding_ something from her. 

It’s oddly devastating, in a way.

Rose looks up from her datapad and looks strangely at Rey, almost as if she’s looking right through her, before she looks at Poe. “I’m guessing that the town is just beyond that ridge,” she says as she points towards a mountainous peak. “The geographical reading says the terrain is pretty rough so it looks like we’ll have to travel on foot. It can’t be that far.”

“Great,” Poe says, clapping his hands together, “Let’s get a move on then. The sooner we get out of here, the better.”

Poe begins marching towards the dark ridge and Ben moves to follow, slinging a large duffel bag of supplies over his shoulder. Rey chances another look over at Rose who glances over in time to catch her eyes. 

The look on Rose’s face can’t be described as anything other than understanding and she smiles softly at Rey as she shoulders her pack. She takes a few steps before turning around to walk backwards. “You coming?” She asks.

Rey looks over at the ridge one more time before subconsciously patting the lightsaber on her hip and sending her friend a smile that she doesn’t really feel. 

“Let’s get going.”

**Author's Note:**

> So, uh, there's chapter one... 
> 
> It's so nerve-wracking having this uploaded but I really hope it's able to bring people some joy in this Post-TROS depression. 
> 
> If you enjoyed it, please feel free to leave a kudos or a comment and I hope to see you all next chapter! :)
> 
> Love, Deela


End file.
